CONTROL: Does data gathered violate employee privacy rights?Many organizations have started adding a credit and background check to the standard reference check during the hiring process. Are those organizations obligated to tell us they’re doing this and what results they’ve received? The justification for doing the credit check typically is that a person who can’t manage his or her own finances probably can’t be trusted with any fiduciary responsibility on behalf of the organization. Does this pass the smell test or is this actually an infringement of privacy?Performing these checks is a relatively recent phenomenon, brought on in part by the desire of organizations to protect themselves in the wake of the numerous corporate scandals of the past few years but also because technology has enabled this data to be gathered, processed, and accessed quickly and inexpensively. Is technology responsible for enabling unethical behavior?Organizations have the right to monitor what employees do (management is measurement) and how technology systems are used. It’s common practice to notify employees that when they use organizational assets such as networks or Internet access, they should have no expectation of privacy. Even without that disclaimer, they really don’t need the warning to know this monitoring is, or could be, taking place.Do organizations have an obligation to notify employees as to the extent of that monitoring? Should an organization make it clear that in addition to monitoring how long employees are using the Internet, it’s also watching which Web sites they visit? If the organization merely says there’s no expectation of privacy when using the e-mail system, is it an ethical violation when employees later find out it was actually reading their e-mails?
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